Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Friday that she had terminated two dozen Federal Emergency Management Agency employees following what she described as “massive” cybersecurity failures that compromised government networks and put operations at risk.
The firings included FEMA Chief Information Officer Charles Armstrong, Chief Information Security Officer Gregory Edwards, and 22 other IT staffers.
“FEMA’s career IT leadership failed on every level. Their incompetence put the American people at risk,” Noem said in a statement. “When DHS stepped in to fix the problem, entrenched bureaucrats worked to prevent us from solving the problem and downplayed just how bad this breach was.”
The cybersecurity breach was uncovered after Noem ordered a review of FEMA’s systems, per the New York Post.
Officials stated that a “threat actor” accessed the agency’s network, though it remains unclear whether the intrusion originated from a foreign source. A FEMA spokesperson said, “Are we lucky no actual American citizens were impacted? Yes, but it’s a huge flaw.”
Department of Homeland Security personnel identified and removed the threat actor, but discovered that FEMA IT staff had re-enabled compromised credentials. DHS sources accused the ousted employees of lying about the extent of vulnerabilities and avoiding scheduled inspections.
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